2013 Musky Tactics

I haven’t had a summer to chase muskies in a few years so I’m just tickled to know that this year, I’m back in action!

I really don’t have any big ideas or dreams of what I want to do but I had a close encounter last fall that has me thinking I just need to be more “opportunistic”.

In WI, we can fish up to 3 lines so I’m simply going to be trolling for any cruising predators while I’m working for my other fish species. I have a handful of lakes in which trolling is so ridiculously productive that it’s hard to convince myself of the need to do anything else. Knowing there’s muskies in them, I might as well pull a shallow diver/floater or a surface chugger of choice. Not to mention, one of those lakes is usually a night effort so….. come on June!!!

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JOe’s got it right. Sometimes they can just be brush piles or Christmas trees that people drop down. The better man-made ones are made of thicker logs and sometimes are held together with re-bar.

They are dropped into lakes that are often void of structure and will hold crappies a lot in the warmer months. They aren’t my favorite structure for muskies.

In June I’ll fish high in the water (most times) when fishing open water. I won’t be getting down to the cribs with my baits. I’ll just sort of use them as a starting point and a point of reference (which is nice when fishing an open basin)

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Found a healthy amount of all the things mentioned above tossed in the water off a point where someone’s house is out on Minnetonka.
Was quite amazed at the array of stuff he had tossed down there.
Im sure a few of you on here know the spot.

Open water basin trolling! It takes some confidence but it can produce big results! Check out these two tankers- open water trolling! Getting itchy now!

50″ and 51″!!! Sad thing is this 51″ was his first muskie- spoiled! These fish were taken early in June!

Tight lines

Those are some real beauties

I’ve always wanted to do that open water bite, but I’m not sure if all lakes have that type of pattern or are certian lakes better for it

Most lakes should have the open basin pattern, with the exception of lakes which don’t have deep open basins…..I have found it to be less prominent the shallower and smaller the lake gets. For the most part it’s pretty simple, find structure with direct access to deep water and start there. I find it helpful to locate baitfish also, and where there is food, there are muskies!

Lol! I caught that 51″ like 7 or 8 days after he did! We’ll have to get out with josh again this year man.

This year, I’m going to try and figure out the lost art of spoon plugging. Hopefully it pays off.

I suppose I should probably just concentrate on catching fish (a fish, any fish) before trying to get too fancy.

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This year, I’m going to try and figure out the lost art of spoon plugging. Hopefully it pays off.

I suppose I should probably just concentrate on catching fish (a fish, any fish) before trying to get too fancy.

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It’s a really fun technique

That’s how I was introduced to muskie fishing

I caught the only 2 fish of the trip between my dad, brother, and myself

36″ & 39.5″

FYI – Check out Buck Perry’s book on spoon plugging.

Good Ole Spoon Plugs. The best way I have ever found for catching muskies while pike fishing. Especially when you mix milfoil and plugs, that’s a good recipe!

An early season tactic often forgot about do to the large bait craze of modern day is the good ole’ sight fishing jig and plastic. This pattern of finding super shallow line of sight fish is most effective on colder water opener years, while every other boat beats the open water basin, i go super skinny and use my eyes to locate the big girls. using a Jacks Jig head and black reaper tail muskie size creeping it by gunning the reel and fast pauses not rod lifts will cause a instinctive strike feature. This tactic has put many big opener fish in my boat from Wisconsin to Northern Minnesota! Photo is Tom Dietz (The man who taught me this tactic) with an opening day sight fishing big one!

Good Point Aaron! I have only put a few fish in the boat doing this, however it is a overlooked tactic. Its fun to see them in shallow water slurp up a jig!! Late ice out, this could be a good thing to remember early in the season!

Sounds like a rush! I will definitely be dedicating time to this technique in a few weeks.

I read an article by Rob Kimm talking about this very technique

It sounds very cool

I learned this tactic from Tom Dietz & Aaron and it is an absolute riot! I can’t stress enough using reel speed to get the jig to swim up and down and not the rod tip. I don’t know why, but it is the ticket, plus it improves hooksets so your rod tip isn’t up at at 75 degree angle! Thanks for sharing Aaron, this one is a good one!

A 10″ wacky rigged worm can be good or…this might be the year to finaly get one on a flyrod!